Societies are increasingly complex. Change is accelerating and its effects are unknown. Managing uncertainty is a major challenge, to the extent that in economics it is becoming difficult to assess need in terms of human capital requirements. This contrasts with the certainty that there is an increasing need for skills in the knowledge society and informational capitalism (Descy & Tessaring, 2002). Scientific and political thinkers alike agree on the necessity to develop, quantitatively and qualitatively, individual and collective skills to face the changing economy. Castells (1997, p. 58) claims that ?for the first time in history, the human mind has become a direct productive asset, rather than just a decisive production factor; its significance and productive value is also changed by its cultivation, through training in the broadest sense?. We have chosen to proceed in stages. The dynamics of the education systems of the five countries and the way in which they model the qualifications structure of each generation have resulted in relations between education and employment that differ according to country. Analysing and comparing the educational dynamics that have prevailed for the last 40 years was the first stage of our research. We then studied the impact of these dynamics on access to employment by the generations concerned (position of graduates in the employment structure, professional position reached, associated salary) in order to measure the value granted to this additional education by the labour market and employers. Finally, a study of the recruitment practices and career management within enterprises allowed us to better understand the evolutions resulting from this expansion of education. From the results of the three stages we obtained the basic elements for a study on the future of our models of skill development.